by Taj McCoy El
With the webs dissolving, she quickly hopped over the writhing bony arachnids and made her way to an empty area of floor. Mayah, recognizing that her chances for survival were now slimmer than previously thought, fought in earnest. The whip circled and cracked time after time. She turned into a blur of light and shadow as the whip circled her.
She hopped over the swarm and began kiting them around the edge of the room she switched Crack of Dawn for happiness and activated her Torch. Then she cast Twain (E), and she suddenly held a hammer in each hand. Just like in the terravole battle, she activated Whack-A-Vole and began churning up the leading edge of the spiders. when the earthen hammer crumbled, she threw it at the tarhandtulas, and then threw out more grenades.
She started bashing the spiders her arms going back and forth like she was threshing wheat. The spiders tried to climb on each other’s back as they rushed her. they resembled a tiny wave of bones. The wave reached up to her chest as it gained momentum and Mayah dove to the side.
She watched the tarhandtulas crash out across the floor, and then race towards her. She cast another Shield (F) rune on herself and tossed an Acid (D) grenade into the air to get rid of any webbing and waded back into battle. She cast Twain (E) and with two hands and heavy boots she crunched and crushed the bony mobs under foot and hammer.
Everything was going fine until she slipped on some loose bones and fell to the floor. the spiders swarmed and bit her on every bit of open skin they could find, and her stamina plummeted. She instantly struggled to get to her feet and dropped as much mana into her stamina as it would take.
Mayah squealed and shrieked at the bites as she knocked the tarhandtulas off her face and shoulders. She reached for more grenades and growled as a mob bit her hand again. she ignored the pain, shoving her hand along with the tarhandtula into her bag where it stayed as she pulled out two Acid (D) grenades. she activated them right above her head and let the green liquid drip down her body. She began to spin and shake while somehow managing to get most of the spiders off herself. She ran across the room to regroup.
She waited for them with her hands on her knees catching her breath. her stamina was down to four, and she couldn’t take any more bites. she was continually pumping her mana into her stamina just to stay standing.
“So, you wanna play rough and get handsy?” she managed to wheeze. “Say hello to my giant hammer!”
She tossed acid grenades at the spiders until she only had ten left, and then started mashing and stomping again while yelling, “Wash, rinse, repeat! Wash, rinse, repeat!”
The tarhandtulas formed a wave with the last of their numbers attempting to spider-pile her again. She cast Surge (S) on herself and the spiders were pushed back roughly five feet in a circle around her. their bones clicking and clattering against the stone floor. she cast twain one last time and did the stompy smashy dance and finally finished off all but two of the mobs. She punted one into the wall stomped on the other and ground it to dust under her boot.
“Never get handsy with a lady,” she growled.
She stumbled to the wall and almost collapsed and got herself into a seated position and leaned back against the wall and let her regen do its job.
Suddenly a soft furry jumped in her lap and scared the ever-loving fluff—out of Fluff.
“And where were you two?”
Riker chittered and made a show of curling up and covering his eyes.
“Hiding?”
Riker nodded.
“Well, thanks for letting me know,” Mayah said sarcastically. I guess they were higher level than you anyway.”
She gave them both stern looks. She stared into those cute little beady eyes and forgiveness washed over her, and she couldn’t hold a straight face.
“Oh c’mere.” she opened her arms to scoop them up. Before Deanna could jump up Mayah drew back.
“You soft?”
Mayah witnessed the fur shift, and then pulled her up into her lap and let her head roll back and closed her eyes.
“Keep a look out for me for a bit?”
✽✽✽
After the envenomed debuff had passed Mayah used her mana to refill her stamina to full. While she did that, she had collected a bunch of bones, webbing sacs, a few venom sacs, and webs, and then edged down the stone walkway. She held the Crack of Dawn in one hand and a club light in the other. Together they cast their pale light further around them than seemed possible.
That’s probably just my Shadow Eye.
She could see the dots of her rötten heading straight ahead into the darkness of her mini-map. They were only twenty feet or so from the edge of the light. Her map was updating around her but the areas the rötten passed through remained darkened though.
After a few minutes, the hall widened out. Her light was failing to reach the walls, and she could only just make them out with her shadow eye. She was startled by a ‘tonk’ sound in the dark distance, like a bamboo wind chime making a single strike. She moved over to the left a bit to keep the wall in view. Thirty yards later she noticed a series of rectangular holes cut into the wall. She went forward keeping an eye on the dark spaces.
They were carved in columns of four, starting two feet from the floor. They were about two feet tall by five feet long and went from floor to ceiling. Her light cast shadows that didn’t allow her to see the depth of the shadow and Mayah was quite reluctant to get too close. She stood there moving her light to get a better angle and realized… Funerary recesses. I just had to go and get locked in a crypt… Margaret is gonna love this one.
She held up her light and noticed that not a single recess held a body or even a casket—the recesses were eerily empty.
Well if the bodies go there, then where are the bodies?
She instantly switched out her whip for happiness.
Wouldn’t want to be fighting the undead with a whip now, would we? No, no we would not. Crushing, it’s better for boneheads.
She made it a few more yards holding the club and happiness before she had enough of two handing it. Dual wield or not this doesn’t feel right. She placed the light on the ground and pulled out a wide strip of fabric. She pinned the light to the outside of her left forearm and wound the fabric around both binding the club light in place.
Extra shielding from bite damage… yay… she thought wryly.
She heard the tonk again, but it was much closer. She hefted happiness, and then raised her arm to scout out her location. Sitting by the edge of a recess was a single solitary skull. Its empty eyes seemed to follow her as she took a step closer.
I could swear that wasn’t there before.
She approached—because video game logic said this was either a surprise attack, a reward, or a clue. Not wanting to leave any of those behind her in the darkness she slowly made her way within striking distance. The skull sat on the second alcove from the floor, inches above her head height. It was perched perfectly on the edge as if someone had placed it there to stare at her directly in her eyes. She made sure to be aware of the higher recesses that she couldn’t see into from this angle and reached out with Happiness to give the skull a tap.
It rocked lightly, sounding like a heavy wooden bowl wobbling on a stone floor. She jabbed at it again. A bit harder this time. It wobbled listlessly and Mayah glanced deeper into the recess.
That was when green mucus shot out of the eyes and nose holes of the skull reaching for her. She ducked behind the head of her hammer and tracers of the gelatinous goo fell across the head and handle of her hammer. She jerked away in revulsion holding her hammer away from her body in disgust. Unfortunately, the disgust hitched a ride on her hammer and the spatter of goo was thickening and pulling the skull along with it. The sneezing skull swung from the end of happiness like a booger faced pendulum as the green ooze coated the skull and pull itself closer to her.
“Eww.. ewww… ewwwww…..!!!!”
She tried to flick the skull booger off her hammer, giving Happiness a few hearty shakes and swings
, but it continued to hold firm. It even gained a few inches of traction despite her struggles. She triggered Crushing Blow and struck the floor hoping to create enough force to dislodge booger face. The ooey-gooey skull refused to budge. It shot a pseudopod out catching the back of her hand and pulled with all its might towards her.
“NONONONONONONONONO….!!!!” Her shrill warble echoed back to her ears. Her skin burned.
You have been attacked
Cranial slime
Level 10
-3DP Pseudopod slap
1296/1614HP
She saw the notification and paused.
That’s not so bad.
The skull opened its mouth and faster than Mayah thought possible slid along the pseudopod and bit into her hand causing Mayah to yelp like a dog that had its tail caught under a fat lady’s rocking chair.
You have been attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-32DP Bite
1264/1614HP
“OWWWW…!!! You Gnarlzin’ no good knuckle nibbling noggin…!!!”
She tried flailing her arm to fling the wretched slime off her arm, but it managed to climb up just under her elbow where It bit her again. The pain felt like a pinch, heavy enough to bruise but her leathers protected her for all but 1DP. That was when her hand started burning.
“AIIIIiiiiiiEEEEeeeee…!!!”
You have been attacked
Cranial slime
Level 10
-72DP Digested
1192/1614HP
Mayah read the notification and raged. You want something to eat? Try this!!!
She pulled out an ice pick and stabbed the skull repeatedly. The slime retracted most of its mass into the skull after the first hit, leaving nasty snail trails all over her. She began chipping away at the bone only to be rewarded with a wet splat as the slime sneezed a pseudopod against her cheek.
It happened so fast she was startled into opening her mouth. Realizing the horrible error, she quickly snapped it closed hard enough to make her teeth click. The skull’s jaw was working overtime, teeth gnashing, as it pulled to get another bite of this sweet cupcake. Mayah struggled to hold it between her elbow and her body. The slime wriggled crazily causing Mayah to dance around like she was wrestling with an invisible person with a visible skull which she held in a headlock.
The pseudopod thickened, and the pull became stronger. Mayah had her hand's full laboring not to get her fingers bitten off and dropped happiness. The slime quickly poured what was left of itself over the skull, forcing its way underneath Mayah’s fingers, causing it to become slipperier than snail snot. Mayah’s grip slipped and the skull shot upwards hitting her on the side of the head with a flash of stars and a splash of goo.
Mayah blinded by pain stumbled over happiness and slammed into the floor banging her head atop the slime causing it some very light damage.
You have been attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-117DP Flying Headbutt
1075/1614HP
Mayah rolled onto her side and reached up to push the slime away and received a bite to her ear. This made her reflexively turn her head away from the pain. The slime slid around to her back and wrapped itself around her throat like a garrote. Mayah struggled to get her finger under the slime but her fingers kept sliding off the mucousy mob. She thrashed reaching for the skull. If she could get a finger into an eye socket, she might stand a chance. The thick strands around her neck were momentarily forgotten when she felt the slime take a bite at the back of her neck.
She let out a strangled yalp and the pressure on her throat increased keeping her from drawing in a much needed breath. With the last of her energy, she quickly struggled to her feet, bent over into a crouch, and jumped up into the air. She pulled her knees into her chest to get as much force as she could while airborne and formed herself into a ball. She landed with the skull hitting the ground first, then her spine hitting the skull, her shoulders and her neck snapping back to wrap around the skull, and then pain. Lots of pain.
You have attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-10DP Blunt Trauma
591/601HP
You have been attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-136DP Headbutt
939/1614HP
Mayah felt her hand her face and the back of her neck burn all at once.
You have been attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-223DP Digestion
716/1614HP
You have unlocked New Ability
Bodiless Slam
Allows you a 10% damage boost to heads without bodies
Debuff received:
Hypoxia
Stamina and Mana regeneration nullified until breathing resumes
Maximum Stamina drain rises by 10% every second until breathing resumes. Once Stamina hits zero you will receive damage equal to 20% of your full health every second.
Mayah felt the lack of air in her lungs like a burning sun spreading across her chest. Pinpricks of light were floating across her vision. Her stamina bar bottomed-out at an astonishing rate as she tried to sit up to slam the skull into the ground again. There was that hollow tonk sound, mixed with a splat noise but Mayah barely heard it over the sound of her heartbeat raging in her ears. Lacking the strength to stand she crawled over to the wall and rocked back and forth, slamming the skull against the wall. She threw all her mana into stamina to give her a small reprieve but Majesta was having none of that.
Her stamina bar rapidly dropped towards zero over the course of ten seconds. She kept hitting the skull against the wall doing decreasing increments of damage as her body stopped responding to her brain. Her eyes were wide, and she struggled to keep focused. Her chest was burning, and her throat was a ring of fire. She hit the skull against the wall a final time and toppled over on her side. Her body stopped responding as her stamina dropped to zero. She stared at the floor in front of her as her vision dimmed down to a point. As darkness swept over her she realized a rune that could help her. The rune for Surge (S) formed in her mind a glowing white image of salvation and purity. She waited for the few seconds she would need to regen her mana. Finally, on the verge of blacking out, her senses reached out to the form of the rune in her mind but were distracted by the ding of a notification.
Ding!!!
New Passive Ability
Runic Soul
Allows user to cast runes without drawing them first.
for a millisecond the blackness remained but the pressure on her throat eased, and she tried to inhale. Her adrenaline surged in preparation of killing this trash mob, and she felt like she could run a marathon.
Oh yeah, Mama’s got a whole case of cans to open up today!!!! Gonna kill me some booger skulls.
When that millisecond ended she felt a bite and everything faded to shades of gray and red. She cursed as she saw this message.
You have died.
Thank You For Playing Majesta.
10.6 Kittens, chickens, and Death… Oh my…
Grax Respawned in the safe zone by the stone plinth with the glowing orb. As soon as he took his first breath, he was bombarded with battle notifications.
Your party has attacked
Cranial Slime
Level 10
-223DP Digestion
716/1614HP
He instantly pulled up his party sheet and found Mayah’s stats. Her stamina was bottoming out way too quickly. pulling up his minimap he saw Mayah was in a new territory to the right of the Keep gates. He ran into the cave opening with all the haste he could muster, and then quickly turned back to grab his inventory from his ghosted-out form. Before he could even get to the cave again the notification popped up in his vision.
Party Member Pretty Princess Cuddle Fluff has died.
He stumbled to a stop, mouth agape and his body listless.
“Shaz…�
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✽✽✽
“Mayah died!!!” Kyle yelled in the Gamma hub terminal.
There was a moment of silence as everyone looked up from what they were doing.
“What do you mean died?” Ronald roared back.
“Sorry. Her toon died. Vitals are still stable. Sending alerts to all medical personnel, Delilah and Josh.”
“As soon as that’s done, I want the vid on the big screen. Any signs of Malcipher?” Ronald asked typing furiously on his keyboard.
“Not that I can tell. I’m scanning the signal from time of death back five minutes to see if I can find any unknown code. After that, I’ll keep expanding the search.”